Previewing Earnings for Hain Celestial, H-P, Dollar Tree & Others

Stocks tend to be most volatile around earnings season, when a good or bad report can make or break it. However, a good or even great earnings report doesn't necessarily translate into a huge pop for a stock.

In its latest earnings preview, BullMarket.com looks at several popular stocks still set to report results this week, including Hain Celestial (HAIN), Hewlett Packard (HPQ), Dollar Tree (DLTR), Gap (GPS), and Autodesk (ADSK).

Here is just a tiny sample of what BullMarket.com wrote about Dollar Tree:

Dollar Tree has beaten analyst EPS estimates each of the past eight quarters. Over that period, the stock has risen the next session four of eight quarters. Seasonally, the stock has risen two times in the last four years.

Last quarter, the dollar-store operator said its net income rose to $133.5 million, or 59 cents per share, from $116.1 million, or 50 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue rose 8.3% to $1.87 billion.

The Street expected earnings of 57 cents per share on revenue of $1.87.

Sales on a same-store basis increased 2.1% in the quarter, which came on top of a 5.6% comp gain in the year-earlier period and a 7.1% comp the year before, the company noted. Traffic grew 1% and average ticket increased 1.1%.

The company said it expected to earn 52 cents to 57 cents per share in the second quarter. Analysts expected 57 cents.

Dollar Tree also raised its full-year earnings forecast to $2.61-$2.77 per share from $2.54-$2.74. Analysts on average were expecting $2.79 per share. ...

Outside of earnings, Dollar Tree has been our favorite in the dollar-store space for awhile. The $1 pricing limit can lead to more impulse purchases by its customers than at other retailers because it's only a dollar. The fact the merchandise can vary a bit from store to store certainly hasn't hurt its growth. Management predicted that the company's growth would also accelerate in the second half of the year, while acknowledging the change in the payroll tax law and economic pressure generally was making customers cautious. ...

The full BullMarket.com earnings analysis includes a look at historical earnings data and EPS trends for the companies above and more; examines past investor reactions to earnings in various contexts; gives options activity analysis; reviews previous-quarter earnings; and gives an opinion on both what earnings will look like and how investors will react based on the aforementioned data points.

Just a few of the correct calls BullMarket.com made for Q2 so far were:

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